My research is focused on children’s understanding of math concepts. In particular, I’m interested in how children’s familiar, prior knowledge can both help and hinder new learning. How can we leverage students’ knowledge of familiar concepts to help them understand new, difficult concepts? My research has focused on relationships between students’ early whole number concepts and later fraction concepts.

I’m also interested in how people feel about math. We’ve noticed that children (and adults) really dislike fractions! Why do students dislike fractions and what are the consequences of adults’ negative attitudes and emotions for important decisions that involve fractions?